July 10, 2021 10 COMMANDMENTS In the Septuagint (or LXX), the "ten words" was translated as "Decalogue", which is derived from Greek dekalogos, the latter meaning and referring to the Greek translation, deka logous. This term is also sometimes used in English, in addition to Ten Commandments. The Tyndale and Coverdale English biblical translations used "ten verses". The Geneva Bible, Bishops' Bible, and the Authorized Version (the "King James" version) use "ten commandments", which is common to most major English versions. The stone tablets, as opposed to the ten commandments inscribed on them, are called Lukhot HaBrit, meaning "the tablets of the covenant". The biblical narrative of the revelation at Sinai begins in Exodus 19 after the arrival of the children of Israel at Mount Sinai (also called Horeb). On the morning of the third day of their encampment, "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud", and the people assembled at the base of the mount. After "the Lord came down upon mount Sinai", Moses went up briefly and returned with stone tablets and prepared the people, and then in Exodus 20 "God spoke" to all the people the words of the covenant, that is, the "ten commandments" as it is written. Modern biblical scholarship differs as to whether Exodus 19–20 describes the people of Israel as having directly heard all or some of the decalogue, or whether the laws are only passed to them through Moses. The people were afraid to hear more and moved "afar off", and Moses responded with "Fear not." Nevertheless, he drew near the "thick darkness" where "the presence of the Lord" was to hear the additional statutes and "judgments", all which he "wrote" in the "book of the covenant" which he read to the people the next morning, and they agreed to be obedient and do all that the LORD had said. Moses escorted a select group consisting of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and "seventy of the elders of Israel" to a location on the mount where they worshipped "afar off" and they "saw the God of Israel" above a "paved work" like clear sapphire stone. And the LORD said unto Moses, “Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua and Moses went up into the mount of God. The first mention of the tablets is in Exodus 24:12–13. The mount was covered by the cloud for six days, and on the seventh day Moses went into the midst of the cloud and was "in the mount forty days and forty nights." And Moses said, "the LORD delivered unto me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly." Before the full forty days expired, the children of Israel collectively decided that something had happened to Moses, and compelled Aaron to fashion a golden calf, and he "built an altar before it" and the people "worshipped" the calf. After the full forty days, Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain with the tablets of stone: "And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount." After the events in chapters 32 and 33, the LORD told Moses, "Hew thee two tablets of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tablets the words that were in the first tablets, which thou brakiest." And he wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spoke unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me." These tablets were later placed in the ark of the covenant. Though both the Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls show the passages of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 divided into ten specific commandments with spaces between them, many Modern English Bible translations give the appearance of more than ten imperative statements in each passage. The Ten Commandments concern matters of fundamental importance in Judaism and Christianity: the greatest obligation (to worship only God), the greatest injury to a person (murder), the greatest injury to family bonds (adultery), the greatest injury to commerce and law (bearing false witness), the greatest inter-generational obligation (honor to parents), the greatest obligation to community (truthfulness), the greatest injury to movable property (theft). The Ten Commandments are written with room for varying interpretation, reflecting their role as a summary of fundamental principles. They are not as explicit or as detailed as rules or as many other biblical laws and commandments, because they provide guiding principles that apply universally, across changing circumstances. They do not specify punishments for their violation. Their precise import must be worked out in each separate situation. The Bible indicates the special status of the Ten Commandments among all other Torah laws in several ways: Of all the biblical laws and commandments, the Ten Commandments alone are said to have been "written with the finger of God." (Exodus 31:18) 18 “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” The stone tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant. (Exodus 25:21) 21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. The Ten Commandments form the basis of Jewish law, stating God's universal and timeless standard of right and wrong – unlike the rest of the 613 commandments in the Torah, which include, for example, various duties and ceremonies such as the kashrut dietary laws, and the rituals to be performed by priests in the Holy Temple. Jewish tradition considers the Ten Commandments the theological basis for the rest of the commandments. Philo, in his four-book work The Special Laws, treated the Ten Commandments as headings under which he discussed other related commandments. May the love and blessings of God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ be with you and provide Peace and Grace to you now and Always. “ ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Invite your friends and family follow my .writings .available through online access at “believeinthelight.com”. Comments and suggestions are appreciated and can be received via email at [email protected] And please encourage everyone to receive God’s peace by reading the Bible often. .